We are all going into that phase. As Mauritius goes into the second wave of the Covid 19 surge, we find ourselves with plenty of time on our hands. Yeah, sure. Everyone keeps stating that writing a book is hard. I’m not saying the contrary. It is damn hard. But with proper planning, it’s doable in a couple of months or so. At least, that crappy first draft will be out of the way.
Yes, you need to actually have a rough draft so you can work on polishing it. The hardest take is sitting down and putting ink to paper or hand on that plastic keyboard.
The first step:
Get an idea for your novel. Everyone had some deep message they are craving to share. Something they want to write about. The deeper your message the more you’ll want to spend time around it. A book can take a while to create. Better find a topic you’re willing to spend months, and sometimes years working on.
The second step:
Create your characters. To be frank, no one wants to read about your perfect hero that can punch through walls and have no drama in his life. That’s boring as hell. The memorable characters are those with flaws and gray morality. Those who battle doubts as they fight their way to the top. Remember a ‘good’ character is one who has inner conflicts as well as external ones.
The third Step:
Decide on the genre, and the tropes, and sketch an outline, a quick summary of the story.
Each genre has a distinctive way it must be approached. Like Sci-Fi or fantasy or romance. I’m not saying you can’t have multiple genres for one story. Just decide what you want the plot to focus on. The romance between the protagonists, the world-building, and the action taking place.
Next are the tropes. What is a trope, you ask? A trope is an idea or device used in literature that repeatedly appears, like friend-to-lover, the chosen one.
What is the need for tropes?
“Since trope is a figurative expression, its major function is to give additional meaning to the texts and allow readers to think profoundly, to understand the idea or a character. Also, it creates images that produce artistic effects on the audience’s senses.” source literarydevices.net
When you’re done with the brain-racking, you can move to do a bullet point of your outline. It’s true that there are different ways of writing a novel. Different writers. Outlining is one of them. There are also pantser or discovery writers, who just write their way into the story and make things up as they go. Or those who do both plans and discover as they write.
The outline method:
- The idea of the story (hero/goal/adversary)
- Ending
- Stunning surprise one
- stunning surprise two
- Beginning (the hook/desire versus fear)
I know this may come out as strange when you already know the ending. But most of the writers already know how the events would unfold when they start writing their novels. The very reason they are writing it.
Also, it helps you not get stuck in that writer’s block when you reached 3/4 of the story and you don’t know how to write the ending.
The fourth step:
Write! Allocate a specific time of the day or night to write. Cut yourself from all distractions. Unplug from social media, close your door, and write. One or two hours a day will be enough. If you have difficulties focusing there are awesome videos on YouTube where you can “write along with other writers” or sprint writing. Try it, you’ll thank me later.
Note, DO NOT, correct or edit your text. It’s an evil trap. Don’t fall for it. If you start editing that rough draft. That crappy first draft when you haven’t finished it yet. There’s a big change you will keep on editing and never finish it. So keep pushing. Resist the urge to fall for it and polish it. WRITE. Write every day. Make it a habit. You’ll notice that when you start writing the ideas will come.
The fifth step:
Editing. When you’ve finished your draft. Hurrah! Congratulations!!! This is only the beginning. You need some distance from your work after you’ve done with the first draft. Go reward yourself with some well-earned leisure time. Go air your head. It is much needed. Give it one or two weeks before sitting down and reread your work. While doing it, use a notebook to write down all the plot holes, structural errors, and character inconsistencies. Editing is how a writer learns to get better. I advise you to read a lot of books in your genre. It will help you see the errors to avoid, and the good elements to add to your own stories.
Editing is the hardest part of writing. As it helps see your work in a new light. If you are having difficulties, get a fresh pair of eyes. Get someone who will be honest with you and is not a friend and will say “Hey, this is awesome,” just to please you. You really don’t want that.
What to cut from your manuscript:
- Repetitions
- Tense shifting
- misplaced apostrophes
- info dumping(details about history/world/technology that slows down the pace)
- unrealistic dialogues
- double negatives (e.g I don’t like nothing)
- overused of: that/more/very
- The dreaded adverbs
- strange verbs instead of said in dialogue tags
- lengthy descriptions of every piece of clothing of the character
- head hopping (sudden change in the point of view)
So that’s it, for the lockdown write your own novel. Happy writing. I hope this article was useful. Remember to stay safe and stay healthy. Write books.
Add comments if you’re stuck in lockdown and are working on your novel. It’s a good way of spending too much free time in a creative way.
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